Tell Sen. Chuck Schumer it’s not a crime to oppose Apartheid!

Did you hear U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is still on board with the Anti-Israel Boycott Act?

This anti-democratic bill that is currently making its way through the halls of the U.S. Congress penalizes individuals and groups that advocate for boycotts of and divestments from companies that are complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and operate in Israeli settlements (settlements that are illegal under international law.)

In 2005, Palestinian civil society organizations called for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as forms of non-violent pressure on Israel to comply with international law. The BDS movement was launched by 170 Palestinian unions, political parties, refugee networks, women’s organizations, professional associations, popular resistance committees and others, and is inspired by other successful nonviolent boycotts of the past including the movement to end South African Apartheid. The BDS call seeks to end the occupation of Palestinian lands, dismantle the Apartheid wall, achieve equality under the law for Israel’s Arab-Palestinian citizens and ensure the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their land as guaranteed by U.N. Resolution 194.

Because of grassroots pressure, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has already withdrawn her co-sponsorship for the bill, officially known as S.720.

Get this: If the bill becomes law, violators could be subject to a maximum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.* This is a wholesale criminalization of political speech!* S.720 Sec. 4 amends the definition of criminality as pertains to 50 U.S.C. 1701-sec.586E, the International Emergency Economic Powers act.

Join the Green Party of New York State in demanding Schumer rescind his support for this anti-democratic bill!